Autodesk promises to cross the 'uncanny valley'

3D design software specialist Autodesk is promising a new games development technology that should help the next generation of games finally cross the 'uncanny valley' and feature totally believable characters.

The 'uncanny valley', as you may already know, refers to the long-running problem that characters in games have minor glitches or facial tics in their animations, which tend to spoil gamers' suspension of disbelief.

Autodesk has now revealed a few more of its plans to Develop magazine, with Senior Games Industry Manager, Michel Kripalani, saying in a recent interview: "What we're focusing on is a complete solution for believable characters and that will run from art packages to run times."

Kripalani added: "With the next generation of gaming platforms, the focus is going to be on runtime simulations. Of course, art tools are also becoming more tied into physics and AI, and while we already had the HumanIK technology, we wanted a complete team that could develop, market, sell and support middleware…that's why we purchased Kynogon."

For the full low-down on this intriguing new middleware tech, which could well be a major step forward in the quest for 'movie-like' believable in-game characters, check out the full feature on Develop's website.